Saturday, March 16, 2013

US Aims to Intercept ICBMs from N. Korea and Iran

The United States is strengthening its ability to intercept missiles launched from North Korea and Iran. Read more.

A good start. But more defense is urgently needed. Not for nothing have North Korea and Iran test-fired ballistic missiles from cargo vessels. Containerized nuclear warhead-tipped missiles and launch pads concealed aboard seemingly civilian freighters--flying flags of convenience--could be used to strike U.S. coastal cities or to eradicate U.S. electronics and communication systems in an EMP attack. There is no known defense against assaults of this sort, which could be conducted anonymously, or, indirectly, using terrorist proxies and allies (e.g. Hezbollah and Al Qaeda).

9/11 came from the air. The next 9/11 could come from the air--via the sea. In addition to the ICBM interceptors, which should be deployed much faster, the U.S. needs an Iron Dome-like defense--Israel's system on steroids--against ship-launched ballistic missiles.

The U.S. should also boost deterrence. Kimist North Korea, which has threatened to actually attack the United States homeland--and capital--with nuclear weapons, and its proliferation partner, Iran, which muses openly about "a world without America and Zionism," need to know that they will be obliterated, as Hillary Clinton put it during here 2008 Presidential campaign, if any nuclear weapon of any kind ever explodes on or above the U.S. homeland.

Of course, the best defense is a good offense. The evil regimes need to go. The regimes in North Korea and Iran cannot be reformed; rather, they must be smashed and replaced.